Queen of Hearts
is a little comedy that
sets its heart at anyone who has ever experienced an emotional breakup
with
someone and who fears the worst: total
rejection and loneliness the entire-world-over.
Not that you
have to experience either of these things to be able to enjoy Queen of Hearts as the slice-of-life
comedy it is. Here is a film that is all about the path of
rediscovering love
and the miracle in you.

I'll
get the basic plot-line out of the way rather
quickly. It's easy to break-down. The film opens dramatically with a
breakup --
between lead heroine Adèle (Valérie Donzelli) and her
boyfriend. Newly depressed,
Adèle turns to her best friend Rachel (Béatrice De
Staël); an older woman who
is frank in informing her that she needs to get over her ex-boyfriend
and move towards
having a relationship with someone more deserving of her affection.

Adèle
decides to start looking for a new romance
with someone else. She sets off gleefully to discover her next
boyfriend. Alas,
time after time she is with bad men and she isn't happy with the
situation at
all. But she also continually ignores the affections of a man who cares
for her
and whom she appreciates as a newfound friend.

The
dramatic question of the film: who will Adèle end
up with and will she find true love and happiness by the conclusion?
The question
is answered by the end and I suppose
it almost is a question answered without
even having to ask the question. Which is the norm for many of the
romantic
comedies produced today - but that's not the reason to see the film. It
is all
about the journey the filmmakers and actors take you on.

First
of all, this is a cinematic experience that
defies the realm of conventional storytelling. It doesn't ever feel
like
something even attempting to appeal to everyone in a Hollywood-esque
formulaic
way. The characters don't simply follow a strict pattern of
expectations. Some
of it seems to be that the screenplay wants to defy all expectations
and be as
odd of a comedy and romance as possible. To a certain degree, that
element
works in the film's favor and keeps it interesting.

The
reason the film works as well as it does is
because the performances by Valérie Donzelli combined
Jérémie Elkaïm (who portrays
four different characters throughout the film) work surprisingly well.
The film
seems like such a small production - which it is - but the acting
doesn't
reflect this as much.

Donzelli
is fantastic as Adèle, who is a sweet
heroine who you really want to find happiness. Elkaïm is particularly exceptional though for pulling off four
different roles
that all required difference in mannerisms and appearance. I was
stunned. Nothing
about the film made me realize it was one performer portraying all four
of Adèle's
romantic interests throughout the entire viewing experience. That's
impressive
acting, period. The characters were
believable.

Queen
of Hearts isn't
a great movie, but
it does feature interesting performances, an eclectic array of quirky
stylistic
choices from its director, and a solid story that has that indie charm
viewers so
often look for and so rarely find.

At
the very least it makes for a passable rental. It's
a charming, if somewhat inconsistent
experience as a whole.

The
DVD:

Video:

This
simply isn't a good looking movie at all and there is absolutely nothingthat could change that. The film wasn't
filmed using high-resolution cameras and the best-of-the-best
equipment. Try
the reverse.

Queen
of Hearts is
just about as lo-fi in technological
approach as you reasonably can expect to see these days. It's clearly
filmed
using low-grade digital cameras, something that does make it feel
quasi-documentary and not altogether in a good way. It doesn't matter
though.
The spirit is what makes the film interesting and not the visuals. Some
films
depend on the visuals to tell an interesting story. Queen of Hearts isn't one
of those films. Director/writer/star Valérie
Donzelli even films it in the
classic 1.33.1 aspect ratio and utilizes a slight framing technique to
the
film, which makes it appear slightly smaller. It is clearly meant to
try and
evoke a certain feeling of classic French films. To a certain extent
the visual
look works in this regard.

Audio:

There
is nothing
interesting about the audio presentation. It is presented with standard
2.0 Dolby
Digital audio. The movie never utilizes sound effects to good effect
and the
film is sparse in music. While there are some moments where the music
makes the
film a bit more light and breezy as a comedy, most of the time the film
is
rather quiet and only focused on the sparse dialogue. It's certainly
easy to
hear and understand but nothing interesting is going on with regards to
the
sound-mix.

Presented in French with English Subtitles.

Extras:

Film
Movement
releases contain a new short film with each monthly selection. This
month's short
film selection is: Luis and Marta Work
Together. Directed by Alois Di Leo, the story is about a man and
woman
working on a project while at last admitting to one another that they
both have
had feelings for each other. Marta proposes they move past the
awkwardness of
the feelings they have by proposing a very odd solution: getting naked
while
working. It's a short trifle that doesn't explore the characters much,
but it
makes a decidedly bizarre short film that has a way of being more
awkwardly comedic
than the premise suggests.

This
DVD
release also contains a short bio on Queen
of Hearts director Valérie
Donzelli and
trailers for other Film Movement releases.

Final
Thoughts:

Queen
of Hearts
isn't a great movie but it is one with some
worthwhile merits - most especially the contribution of actor Jérémie
Elkaïm,
who performed four roles and was so effective at this that it didn't
even cross
my mind that multiple parts were being played by the same actor in the
film
until the end credits made it incredibly apparent to me. I was in a
state of truly
bewildered disbelief. The rest of the movie isn't so-bad either. It's
just
nothing too far flung outside of the realm of decent independent fare.
Keep
expectations in check and you'll enjoy the film and be impressed by
Jérémie
Elkaïm.

The
film has flaws - most notably its lo-fi cinematography and its lack of
compelling character development. The screenplay is lacking in
insightfulness
but it is largely successful at creating interesting comedic scenarios
- though
these aspects (and the film itself) won't seem entirely appealing to
everyone.

Rent
It.
Make sure to
rent Queen of Hearts first and to then
make your purchasing decisions accordingly.